At the risk of sounding like a broken record or being accused of having ‘tunnel vision’, I emphatically believe that the explicit and implicit instruction of critical thinking skills across all domains of learning is the head cornerstone essential to rebuilding equity in education.
In support of this philosophy I have designed a ten (10) year initiative aimed at using the practical application of critical thinking skills to address and correct the gaps in achievement which exist and persist in our public schools and are at crises levels for African American students. The initiative is the Wholistic Education- Critical Thinking Initiative 2021 (WE- CTI 2021). The vision of the WE- CTI 2021 is to use the triad of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to engage educators, learners, and parents toward closing the academic achievement gap from the inside out, by building a bridge.
The Critical Thinking Initiative is completely learner- centered; but the undeniable truth is that students need the support of their family and community to reach their full potential. Based on this understanding, the programs associated with The Critical Thinking Initiative were designed to serve the student, their parents and/ or guardian, and the educators who teach them. Teachers who teach students to know, to care, and to act hold themselves to the same standards they expect of their students. These teachers can begin to speak genuinely about how to act with individual and collective responsibility and to address issues of difference so that they create celebration rather than division (Kelly, 1999).
Dr Nieto (2008) discusses the seven characteristics (anti-racist, basic education, for all children, pervasive, outreach to family, social justice, and critical pedagogy) of multicultural education. I am in complete agreement with this assertion. I go even further to suggest that multicultural education is embedded in what I call Wholistic Education™. The goals and expected outcome of Wholistic Education [The Gee WE Theory] is to produce a thinker with the ability to recognize all aspects of self as being healthy, positive, and relevant, to cultivate a conscientious life long learner who is cognizant of the connections that center on change, and to establish a foundation to be nurtured and sustained in order to serve as the building blocks for transformative engagement in every domain of learning (Gee, 2009).
The case study at Findlay High School in Ohio provided provocative insight and important research findings related to the inequity of access to critical thinking skills for students who are tracked into non college prep courses. Zohar & Dori (2003) addressed the notion of the mutual exclusivity of higher order thinking skills and low achieving student. Their findings illuminated the trend that excludes exposure to instruction of critical thinking to students who are not enrolled in higher level i.e. Honors or AP courses. This practice ensures that the vast majority of the school, particularly minority and disadvantaged student, will not receive instruction in critical thinking skills (Marin & Halpern, 2011).
I propose to build on the results from the Findlay scenario and the research supporting the need for critical thinking skills i.e. higher order thinking for the maximal development of the learner, while simultaneously supporting those key individuals (parents and educators) who have the greatest impact on student success.
The Wholistic Education (WE) Theory is a direct response to the imperative question:
What cognitive skills and dispositions do good critical thinkers seem to demonstrate habitually which poor critical thinkers seem not to possess?
There are 8 Essential Facts of The Wholistic Education (WE) Theory [The Gee WE Theory]:
1. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making are the three core building block (3CB’s) of Wholistic Education. They do not always occur in precise order. They are action oriented engagement.
2. The Effort- Achievement Dynamic (EAD) is a Wholistic Education to explicitly teach and exemplify the connection between effort and achievement (Marzano, R., 2001).
3. Wholistic Education recognizes the concept negativity as the absence of positivity. WE addresses the problem of negativity by infusing and saturating the problem with positive proactive solutions.
4. WE values Self- Directed Learning and its 3 Key Principles: self- management, self- monitoring, and self- modification.
5. Wholistic Education values questions more than correct or incorrect answers. WE requires one to be an insatiable questioner.
6. Wholistic Education is authentically learner- centered. WE ALWAYS begins with Sphere 1- Self which ALWAYS begins the learner’s self- designated frame of reference known as Identity Frames (IF’s).
7. Wholistic Education is authentically collaborative. All three spheres (self, community, and world) are inextricably intertwined.
8. Wholistic Education values SILENCE, REFLECTION, and TIME TO THINK (TTT).
References
Gee, Marilyn (2009). An educator’s mission statement. Walden University (MSED paper)
Kelly, K. (1999, April).With new eyes. Classroom Leadership. Retrieved November 15, 2011,
from http://pdoline.ascd.org/pd_online/embracing/199904cl_kelly.html
Marin, L. M., & Halpern, D. F. (2011). Pedagogy for developing critical thinking in adolescents:
Explicit instruction produces greatest gains. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 6(1), 1-13.
doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2010.08.002
Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2008). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural
education. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education.
Zohar, A., & Dori, Y. (2003). Higher order thinking skills and low achieving students: Are they
mutually exclusive? Journal of Learning Sciences, 12(2), 145-182
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